


calling stars

by daredvvil



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Coffee, Pre-Slash, possibly?, space prince tony, this was supposed to have more description of tony in it but i was distracted by Loving Rhodey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 21:53:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14222574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daredvvil/pseuds/daredvvil
Summary: "It wasn't often Tony felt small next to something that wasn't the vastness of the void, but standing before the man, whose hand had found its way around his left forearm, he almost felt something close to human, close to their minuteness."Pulsars are cosmic beacons of pulsing light, born of dying stars, wrapped in a shell of iron, deep within the universe. A flashing call to remember, to explore.





	calling stars

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this piece](http://kayvsworld.tumblr.com/post/146837214535/boydo-i-still-love-that-space-prince-tony) by kayvsworld and [this one](http://dksartz.tumblr.com/post/172575155263/a-very-otherworldly-looking-space-prince-tony) by dksartz  
> and by how much i love space because space is Beautiful

He enjoys visiting Earth, enjoys walking with his feet on the ground and head in the clouds, always with a forced distance, but present in a way he didn't usually attempt in the cold cradle of the ever expanding universe. 

Tony never expected much of the visits, just a change of pace, like hitting fast forward and letting his eyes unfocus, just a little, just enough to relax. It was comfortable, and it would figure that it would be ruined by a soul too bright to be contained on a planet as dull as Earth, by a smile brighter than any star in the endless void, by a man with thousands of times the gravitational force of any singularity Tony had forged within the palms of his hands.

The man was enthralling, and he had rammed into Tony with an astonishing amount of force. Tony had stumbled back even as he moved to catch himself, one hand carefully closing around the man’s left wrist as Tony’s coffee hit the floor, already forgotten. He almost lost hold on his form in the sudden distraction, almost became everything his tiny corner of the universe held at once in the presence of the man, drawn in by constellations etched within the his eyes, brilliant and ever-shifting.

It wasn't often Tony felt small next to something that wasn't the vastness of the void, but standing before the man, whose hand had found its way around his left forearm, he almost felt something close to human, close to their minuteness.

“I'm so sorry.” The man apologized, and Tony looked up and nearly toppled again, because the man’s brow was furrowed and his eyes  _ (those deep, deep eyes that looked like galaxies and flames and everything beautiful Tony had ever touched) _ were so flooded with concern Tony thought he may drown, right there, in a body too small for his boundlessness, standing on dry land.

“It's ok,” Tony smiled gently, warmly, tried to remember how this worked, the nuance and the subtlety of how humans interacted, “I’m Tony.”

The man's shoulders relaxed a little, his smile widening and the tenseness oozing out of him, “I’m James Rhodes, sorry again about running into you like that, I should've watched where I was going.”

The name, Tony found, was nice. Warm when it formed around his tongue, “No harm, no foul, James.” It slotted into his mind perfectly beside every other name he knew, every other name of every star he had breathed life into, or had breathed life into him  _ (sometimes he forgot it was a long, ever expanding list, sometimes he remembered he was old and could only think of Maria and Pepper and Peter) _ .

Belatedly, Tony realized his hand was wrapped around James’ wrist still, and he very nearly didn't pull away  _ (very nearly gave into his urge to pull James towards him, away from the confines of earthly mortality, into the cosmos and Tony’s arms) _ . He let his fingers loosen, slip away like a trail of stardust into nothingness, and smiled to see James staring at him, though he wasn't sure if it was in confusion or some other emotion he had yet to understand fully.

Tony made to turn, to leave and spend a millenia remembering, even after the shadow of earth had been long forgotten.

Before he could though, James, with calculating eyes and starlight falling from his grin, spoke again, calling Tony to a pause. “Let me buy you a new coffee?”

He looked down and blinked slowly at the emptying cup on the sidewalk, before nodding, glancing halfway back up to James, just enough to meet his eyes. “That would be nice, thank you,” and Tony tried to draw his focus, come a little closer to Earth, draw a little more of himself to this physical form. He shouldn't be so affected by a mere man he tried to remind himself  _ (yet the thought would not stop the terrifying pull of a soft smile and kind eyes, laced with every beautiful thing Tony already loved and that the universe had ever offered) _ .

James led him away gently, back to the shopping centers and to the bustling crowds of people that Tony so enjoyed watching, to a small shop that smelled of coffee and warmth.

They ordered their drinks and James payed, and again Tony found himself forgetting about the coffee while they waited against the pick-up counter. He knew, distantly, that on earth staring was considered rude, but Tony couldn't help himself, couldn't help that the tapping of James’ fingers pulled harder than the call of the stars, couldn't help that every moment James smiled at him time drew itself out aimlessly, moments stretching longer, as it did just before the event horizon of a black hole.

After they got their coffees, James left with a short goodbye and a small grin, and, as he walked away from Tony, he looked like a comet, the bright tail of his exit just an echo as the door slipped shut.

Tony found that, just as he never wanted to forget those names he cradled so close to his chest  _ (Maria. Pepper. Peter. Those stars he had chosen and those that had chosen him, united in a small crown of familiarity to hold him together) _ he wished desperately to remember this man, with words as light as cosmic dust and with eyes as heavy as a neutron star.

_ (And if Tony were more eloquent and versed in the earth's study of the universe, he would say that he was humanity, and, at the farthest reaches of time and space, James Rhodes was a pulsar, a cosmic beacon calling to an enormous, growing universe.) _

**Author's Note:**

> please comment and let me know what you thought of this!!
> 
> (also go out and appreciate rhodey more because not enough people do)


End file.
